Angela's Wings

Jody and I were just talking about the fact that it has only been four days since Angela has been home, it seems so hard to believe. She is already one of us and it has been an amazing fit so far. 

A week ago today (actually a little more than a week now UA time) was gotcha day. The picture of Angela in her snowsuit is just before she left the orphanage for the last time as a resident. Sunday evening we played ball and with her favorite plastic farm animals as she settled into the apartment.

Monday we headed to Kiev at 5AM and Angela stayed awake for pretty much the whole ride. One of her caretakers told us she was hard to get to sleep, this is a colossal understatement. We made two trips to the embassy and one to the embassy medical clinic on Monday. By 3:15PM we had the visa in hand and got our flight confirmation shortly after. I kept Angela up til nearly 10 so she would sleep on our flight Tuesday. We were back up by 2:30 AM to head to Boryspil Intl Airport. By 6AM we were headed from Kiev to Frankfurt. Angela slept about 45 minutes on that flight.

By the time we arrived in Frankfurt, Angela was getting tired and grumpy, the TSA official was determined that Angela had to remove her coat which led to a minor meltdown in the airport. After a three hour layover we were on the 747 to Chicago. Angela slept about 30 minutes as the plane made its original ascent, but then she was up for the duration. At about the four and a half hour mark Angela had a major meltdown for about 20 minutes or so. She was sobbing and dripping these giant alligator tears, I felt awful and I’m pretty sure the people around me thought I was pinching her. After that she was grumpy but held it together really well for the rest of the flight.

We had one more connection at Chicago where we met a bunch of really great people from New Life Assembly in Kearney who had been doing some work in India. It was great to bump into some people from home after having been away for so long. The flight from Chicago to Omaha was smooth. We arrived in Omaha and were finally united for the first time as a family (our whole family).

We stayed in Omaha on Tuesday night. We planned on Angela hating the water, but she loved swimming and swam in her PJ’s for about an hour on Tuesday night. We swam again on Wednesday and she was pretty freaked out about how a swimsuit works but once she hit the water she was in good shape. We had a blast and also got a bunch of (American) paperwork done. We’ve been settling in since then and things are good.

We will continue to update on a few things. Kyle is experiencing jet lag and adjusting back to work at CSF. 

I wanted to let you know that we are home safe and sound (back to Kearney). Angela and I arrived Tuesday evening and were able to spend a little time all together as a family. Yesterday was more paperwork on this side of the ocean. Angela has a SS card on the way and is now good to go with our insurance so hopefully that is all for a week or two. Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I will have a full blog post with pictures probably tomorrow but by Saturday for sure.

For those of you anticipating this post -

I have not heard from Kyle or Jody, but I do know Kyle & Angela landed safely and that the boys loved her and she was all smiles. I believe the family is taking a short family vacation. 

They are safe and I’ll remind Kyle to update on everything when they get back to Kearney.

It has been a whirlwind week, back and forth with paperwork. We are getting close to the end of the line but I don’t want to give any percentages yet because I just don’t know exactly what is going to happen.

Monday is a big day and I need some paperwork stuff to work out right so if you all would pray I would really appreciate it. I can tell you that your prayers have been answered every step of the way. We have come up against serious roadblocks multiple times only to have them removed as if they were never there.

On Tuesday things looked bleak more than once, I would tell my driver, “I will pray.” He grew up in Communist USSR and is indifferent to faith - he kind of blows me off when I say this. Then, some things happen and go our direction and he says, “I am very lucky,” I quickly correct him, with “No my friend, I am very blessed.” Then he turns up the 70’s American Rock and Roll as if to say, “this conversation is finished.” I don’t know what has gone through his head, but my faith has grown by leaps and bounds.

There is so much that I want to tell you about my meeting with Angela’s parents, but I want to be sensitive to them and I am still trying to process it all. I will sum it up this way: If you live in America today and you were born there take some time to look around you. We are blessed beyond our imagination. I’m not talking about cars and houses and things that matter very little in the scope of life.

Imagine having a child that you love incredibly but for reasons beyond your control you cannot keep or raise this child. I watched a mama have to let go of her baby (a baby that she wanted, but was born under different circumstances than expected) and it was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. She is thankful for a family for her little girl. We are thankful to be able to steward the gift she has given us. In the end I couldn’t help but think, had I been born in the UA, and they in the USA, the tables would be turned. I hope that I do not quickly forget the abundance of my blessings, and I hope you will consider yours as well.

It was a beautiful day in UA today. I was able to get all of the remaining Ukrainian paperwork finished today, So the US Embassy paperwork is the only remaining hurdle oh and now am waiting for passport. The passport can take anywhere from 2 to 5 business days from tomorrow so I would ask you to pray for it to happen very quickly.

I also met Angela’s family today. This will be a post all of its own when I am able to write about it without drenching my keyboard in tears, Please pray for her mama in these coming days, She is wonderful and I can’t tell you how hard this was for her (and me today). Thank you so much for your continued prayers on our behalf.

I will update again as soon as I know how Embassy availability is shaping up.

Visit with Angela was great today. She held the headphones and didn’t throw the whole thing across the room. Big Win!! Could use some prayers if anybody has 10 extra minutes.

Tomorrow starts the big paper chase, pick up court decree, change Angela’s birth record, passport run around. Excited to know this starts the final round. Also, Angela had an abundance of green snot today (which oddly enough doesn’t even bother me anymore) it is imperative that she not be sick when we go to see the Embassy Docs next week. You know what to do. Thanks.

Oh, and thanks to all of you who have given at any point in the process, and who have given since our last post, thanks so much. My ticket should be paid for and if my accounting is correct we will walk away from this adoption debt free. (And by debt free I mean no borrowing from our emergency savings) we paid for things here and there but were glad to make the sacrifice as part of the adoption process. Couldn’t have done it without all of you, seriously! Thanks.